I know that it would be more romantic if I were to say that I dreamed of flying ever since I was five years old, but the truth is, having grown up on a poor hill farm and graduated from a small high school with a certificate that states that I finished in "the middle third of a class of 14", I did not have a clue as to what I wanted to do.

I will leave out some of the dull stuff and jump to March 1, 1944. I entered the service through the voluntary draft and was assigned to the Air Force. On March 1, 1944, I arrived at Lowery Field at Denver and was told that I would be trained as an ordnance mechanic. The first phase would be learning to repair, rebuild and install 50 caliber machine guns in B-17's and B-24's. This lasted about two weeks when we were told that we would be switching to the new C.F.C. system for B-29s (what the hell was a B-29 ?). Finally they showed us a picture of one -- a beautiful plane.



We were told that it would be a 26 week course "in operation, installation and repairs" of this system and that we would be qualified to serve as C.F.C mechanics assigned to ground support units. WRONG -- It turned out to be 12 weeks and we went to gunnery school at Fort Myers, Fla. and were eventually assigned to a combat crew. On June 24, 1944 in Ft. Myers I

had my first ever airplane ride in a B-17 with about 12 others who had never flown before. WOW -- fantastic! July 28, 1944 we received a "delay in route" orders to report to Walker Field at Hays, Kansas on August 20th for assignment.

There I would meet the crew that I would fly with. At this point, I had never seen, much less flown, in a B-29. That changed that afternoon when we walked out for a first took. Fantastic. Then came the shocker. I had been trained and understood that the C.F.C gunner flew in the top ring turret, but I was told that they already had a ring gunner so I would fly right waist position.

After training at Walker, we were assigned to Lincoln, Nebraska an then to Kearney where we would be assigned an airplane and would move to Saipan. We were eventually assigned Z square 52 that we named The Ancient Mariner and on December 1, 1944 we headed for Saipan where we fly 6 missions on Z-52. Then for some unknown reason Z-52 was assigned to another crew and we would fly several different planes. On May 15 we were given a new plane and flew our last eight missions on Z-58.



STANDING (L to R): Ray Clinkscales - Pilot ( Belmont, NC), Tom Benwell - Co-Pilot (deceased), Bob Spicer - Navigator (Lake Placid, FL), Ed Struble - Bombardier (deceased), Jim Wride - Flight Engr (Bartlesville, OK) Bob Kain - Radar (deceased).

KNEELING (L to R): Francis Sobek - Radio (deceased), Dick Wing - Gunner (Sparks, NV), Don Chambers - Gunner (unknown), Jim Reifenschneider- CFC Gunner (New Philadelphia, OH), Elmo Glockner - Tail Gunner (deceased).

I will back up a little and relate some of our more memorable missions.

On Feb 19, 1945 we had just dropped our bombs when we encountered a large force of enemy fighters, one of which plowed into the middle of us just off of our right wing. Avery good friend of mine was the C.F.C. gunner on that plane. He was never found. (Perhaps more on that at another time.)

March 9th, the first low altitude incendiary raid on Tokyo - 4700 feet over Tokyo. Nothing but fire as far as you could see. (Perhaps more on that later, too).

We flew our 30th mission on June 24, 1945 and headed for home in a war weary B-29. Eventually I arrived at Elgin Field, Fla. and was discharged 23rd Oct 1945.

Colorado Springs Reunion 1994

I would have no contact with any old crew members until the 73rd Bomb Wing Reunion in Colorado Springs in 1994. There I was reunited with our Airplane commander, flight engineer, navigator and ring gunner for the first time in 49 years.

I had better start to knock this off, but first I must relate how this web site was born. Old Z-58 had been recovered and restored and was to


Jim Wagoner and Jim Reifenschneider

be put on permanent display at Dobbins Reserve Air Force Base in Marietta, Georgia.

All who had flown on Z-58 and could be located were invited to attend the dedication. My son and daughter -in-law live in Snellville GA, just east of Atlanta so we stayed with them and invited them to the dedication. After seeing the dedication and the reactions of all of us who were there, Sallyann decided to create a web page dedicated to my B-29 experiences.

I never dreamed that it would mushroom into the terrific site that it has. From the bottom of my heart, thank you Jim and Sallyann for all your hard work and dedication.

- Jim Reifenschneider

 

You can reach Jim Reifenschneider by clicking here

April 1999 - How the Revisionist Grinches Stole the 50th Anniversary of the End of World War II
by Andy Doty.

May 1999 - The tale of our 16th mission . . .
by Joseph Majeski

We did not have a guest columnist in June 1999.

July 1999 - Col. Patrick J. Ryan - The REAL Bombardier by Fred Byars

We did not have a columnist in August.

September 1999 - The Take Off in a Loaded B-29 by Earl L. Johnson, Maj. Gen. (Retired)

October 1999 - The first B29 to Bomb Japan - by Terrence Lindell

November 1999 - Ford Speaks Out

December 1999 - Memories of Genie, Tinian 1945 by Nate Hicks